Uirō

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Memorial stone in Myōraku Temple ( Myōraku-ji ), Fukuoka
Uirō action in Odawara
Uirō dealer in the kabuki scene of the same name, played by Ichikawa Danjūrō ​​(9th generation). Wood block printing from the end of the 19th century
Uirō confectionery in the encyclopedia Wakan Sansai Zue (1712)

Uirō ( Japanese う い ろ う ) is the name of the oldest medicinal commercial preparation in Japan and also the name of a confectionery derived from it.

origin

In the second half of the 14th century, after the fall of the Yuan Dynasty , a Chinese named Chen Yanyou ( 陳 延 祐 ) aka Zongjing fled Taizhou in Zhejiang Province to Japan. Here he first found accommodation in the Myōraku Temple at Hakata (now part of the city of Fukuoka ), the contact point for official visitors from the mainland. In China he held a position called Wailang ( 外 郎 , literally "outside man") with no portfolio in the Ministry of Rites. Now he began trading in imported Chinese medicines.

At the beginning of the 15th century, his son Zongqi ( 陳 宗 奇 , Japanese Sōki) traveled to China and brought a remedy called Tōchinkō ( 透頂 香 ) with him, which helped with nausea, stomach and intestinal complaints, headaches and weaknesses. Thanks to a clever sales strategy, the pills soon became known under the name Uirō, a corruption of Wailang . According to tradition, the family entertained visitors with confectionery, which they called Uirō confectionery. As a result, Uirō spread both as the name of the remedy and the confectionery.

The great-grandson of Chen Yanyou with the Japanese name Uno Sadaharu ( 宇 野 定 治 ) moved to Odawara in 1504 at the invitation of the local feudal lord Hōjō Sōun and founded a drug store for Uirō there. This branch of the family produces and sells the product here to this day. An outpatient “Uirō dealer” in the Kabuki theater finally anchored the name in the folk estate. The Uirō action in Odawara on the "East Sea Road" ( Tōkaidō ) became a sight in the travel guides of the time ( dōchūki ), which has hardly lost its popularity to this day. During the Edo period , Uirō was also available in Kyoto .

Uirō as a medicinal product

Uirō is sold as a pill with a silver coating. Today's retail pack contains 428 pills. They contain ginseng , musk , camphor , cinnamon bark, cloves , catechu , liquorice , borax , menthol , and Amomum seeds.

Uirō confectionery

The Uirō confection, also called Uirō-mochi ( 外 郎 餅 ), is like many of the Japanese confections a jelly-like, slightly sticky cake made from rice flour in many forms, which is slightly sweetened with flavorings such as tea ( matcha ), nuts, adzuki bean paste and the like. a. m. is enriched. It appears for the first time in 1712 in Terajima Ryōan's encyclopedia Wakan Sansai Zue , spread widely in the 19th century and is now produced and sold in all kinds of variants in Odawara, Kuwana , Nagoya , Ise (Mie) , Yamaguchi and Nakatsu .

Uirō traders in the Kabuki theater

Uirō-uri "( 外 郎 売 り 'Uirō dealer' ) was initially a scene in a play by Chikamatsu Genzaburō, first performed in 1718 in the Morita Kabuki Theater in Edo . It was created by Ichikawa Danjurō (2nd generation) and his successors over generations Played, expanded in the 19th and 20th centuries, integrated into other pieces and refreshed again and again to this day.The seller praises the remedy and its miraculous effects in rapid tongue twisters.

literature

  • Michel-Zaitsu, Wolfgang (2017): Traditional Medicine in Japan - From the Early Period to the Present . Munich: Kiener Verlag ISBN 978-3-943324-75-4
  • Sōda, Hajime (1981): Nihon no meiyaku - Baiyaku no bunkashi [Famous Medicines of Japan - Cultural History of Commercial Preparations ]. Tōkyō: Yasaka Shobō ( 宗 田 一 『日本 の 名 薬 - 売 薬 の 文化史』 八 坂 書房 )
  • Sugiyama, Shigeru (1999): Kusuri no shakaishi - Nihon saiko no baiyaku Uirō / Tōchinkō [Social history of remedies - Uirō / Tōchinkō, the oldest commercial preparation in Japan] Tōkyō: Kindai Bungeisha ( 杉山 茂 『薬 の 社会 薬. - 日本 の 社会 古外 郎 ・ 透頂 香 』近代 文 芸 社 )

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Wakan Sansai Zue ( 和 漢 三才 図 絵 ), Volume 105
  2. ↑ According to the information on the retail package
  3. ↑ Sōda (1981) pp. 32f.

Web links

gallery

  • Uirō from Odawara

  • Uirō pills from Odawara

  • Uirō confectionary in block form

  • Uirō confectionary from Nakatsu ( Ōita Prefecture )

  • Old Uirō confectionery shop in Nakatsu

  • rod-shaped Uirō confectionery ( Bō-uirō )

  • Uirō confectionery with chestnuts

Japanese name: As is common in Japan, the family name comes before the first name in this article . Thus Uno is the family name, Sadaharu the first name.